Quantitative analysis of the gender differences in learning styles of IT professionals and the impact on leadership outcomes: Implications for STE

There continues to be a significant gap in the number of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) leadership positions. Prior research has suggested that successful managers are unique due to their ability to learn and therefore adapt to changing demands. However, women have demonstrated learning preferences that have presented significant challenges in STEM educational settings that may also carry over to management in professional environments. Learning style differences between men and women remain a topic of interest in the current literature. Understanding how these gender differences impact IT leadership outcomes provides an opportunity for women to transition into more leadership roles by adjusting their learning styles to proven strategies. Prior research has demonstrated some learning differences between men and women and has also connected learning styles to leadership outcomes for teachers. This research seeks to link learning styles of IT professionals to transformational leadership outcomes. It also seeks to determine learning strategies men employ that may be advantageous to leadership. Transformational leadership drives innovation and entrepreneurial spirit within technology companies; therefore, it is used in this research as a successful leadership model. Data were collected from IT professionals using both an online survey and through paper-based distribution. These data were analyzed to determine the exact nature of the relationship between gender, learning styles, transformational leadership and leadership effectiveness. Learning styles were not found to be significantly correlated with transformational leadership outcomes. Further, gender and learning styles could not predict the transformational leadership tendency or leadership effectiveness in IT professionals.